Had to cancel my Hatfield-McCoy ride, but........

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I'd made plans to go to the Annual Hatfield-McCoy ride with other TT members from the NE. I was really looking forward to it. Then the little lady started commenting on how we weren't going to vacation in the west this year and how homesick she was for that area. So, I pulled some strings at work, got a little more time off, and suprised her with a couple of weeks in Colorado.

Since the Hatfield -McCoy was to be a 'riding vacation', Colorado was going to be. I dragged our bikes along in our enclosed trailer. Mine is an old DRZ400E with a BD kit. Her bike is an XT 225. 'Motogoalie', over on the Rocky Mtn section of TT, gave me some good information as far as what trails we might like etc.

We stayed in Ouray. I rode 2 full days. The wife decided not to ride. She was afraid it was going to be a little too rough for her. She's actually quite good riding off-road, but shoulder surgery a couple of years ago has caused her to become pretty cautious. She will not take chances at re-injuring the shoulder. I'm OK with that. Her decision caused me to have to ride by myself. That's not something I care to do, but I loaded up my backpack and off I went.

I was really scooting along and missed the turn off to Cinnamon Pass. I later found it. I got run into the ditch by a guy in a Toyota pick-up. The Alpine Loop takes about 6 hours to complete on an ATV or in a Jeep. I saw a few of each of those up there. The trip took me about 3 1/2 hrs. Put about 70 miles on the clock.

And these are on the West side of Engineer Pass. I wish I could figure out how to show more depth in photos like these. It's a loooong way down to that old camp. And when you're setting up on the top of the mountain, it seems to be pretty much 'straight down'. 'Sorry that I couldn't take a photo that really shows it.

These shots were taken as I was getting close to Ouray. These are old mining trails. Sometimes they just blasted a trail out of the side of the mountain. On some of the trails, there is little room for error.

I rode two other 'loops'. One was simply up to Yankee Boy Basin and back to Ouray. The other was over Black Bear Pass into Telluride and then back over Imogene Pass to Ouray. I'll try to load the photos into photobucket and make short reports on those rides if you guys care to hear about them.

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I did not re-jet. I bought the bike used a couple of years ago. I have done nothing to the carb and have no idea what jets are in it. The bike did feel a bit sluggish when I went over Imogene Pass which is around 13,000 ft. It was also harder to start and keep running up on Imogene.

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I've read comments in Dirt Bike magazines, and heard people say "Why would anyone want to own a dualsport." Everytime I ride mine, and especially after seeing your pictures, all I can say is Why would anyone NOT want to own a dualsport.